Just a Game
by IWEYC
Summary: Jaune Arc loved video games, no doubt about that. When he wasn't thinking about being a huntsman, he was on his scroll, playing to his hearts content. A semblance is an extension of your soul, in that regard, is it that surprising Jaune's semblance branched out from one of his video games? "What do you mean I have to let the enemy attack before fly will hit?"
1. Chapter 1

**I DON'T OWN RWBY!**

 **"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." - Unknown**

* * *

He shuddered, rushing through the thick underbrush of the forest, stray branches and leaves blocking his vision, only to be swatted away by a frantic hand swipe. His feet - in hasty steps - snapped fallen twigs with no consideration for the art of stealth, driven purely by fear and fear alone.

17 year old Jaune didn't think this through. Or more specifically, he didn't think through his plans of going into the forest behind his house, unarmed; where grimm could roam free, and attack anyone they wanted at any moment. In hindsight, it was a really dumb idea, no, it surpassed dumb altogether.

A pleasant walk, something he didn't get to do very often, considering he was always distracted with his video games.

That was all he asked for. The _one_ time he decides to take a break from his video games - and finally, like his parents wanted him to, enjoy the scenery around him, take pride and joy into what was and had been his home for the past thirteen years.

It was actually quite peaceful, the birds chirped in the backround, creating an ambience that practically had tranquility painted all over it. Butterflies flew from branch to branch, some even just hatching from their cacoons, spreading their beautiful, pristine wings and taking flight out into the depths of the wilderness.

For the first few minutes, at the very most.

What prompted him to go on a walk through a forest without a weapon - or _his_ weapon, rather, heneeded to constantly remind himself about that - he didn't know.

And he probably wouldn't know as he was chased down by an Ursa Major - much like an Alpha Beowolf, it's spikes were much sharper, longer by a massive amount, and it's general size was just bigger. It didn't get it's name for looks, though. These creatures of grimm needed to get the title _earned_.

Contrary to some people's beliefs, grimm became higher up a food chain in their respective classes by absorbing a grimm's _darkness_ ; basically speaking, it was like draining a human's aura...but for the _grimm_.

The more _darkness_ the contained, the more powerful they were to become. In this case, an Ursa had to fight it's way to the top, in order to actually _be_ the one on top - he duly noted this was, preferably, something he would never say out loud, because innuendos and all that.

Back to the matter at hand, Ursa Major's were basically Ursi - who had absorbed enough _darkness_ to change their form entirely. Of course, a grimm were to kill an Ursa Major versus an Ursa...it would gain more darkness if it beat the Ursa Major, as compared to the Ursa.

Despite what he had said, though, grimm didn't actually _absorb darkness_ , they didn't have capablities that allowed them to do that. They needed to come in physical contact with their opponent, and somehow get it eaten into it's body - again, problems with context, Jaune noted. Basically speaking, an Ursa has to physically _eat_ another grimm for the _darkness_ to actually take form in it's body.

How? He had no clue. He wasn't even sure if researchers themselves had any idea how the transfer was executed; theories, yes, but no solid evidence to back the, up.

What was he doing again?

Oh yeah...

"AHHHHHHH!" he screamed, running throu the forest at blinding speeds, daring a look over his shoulder. He watched as the Ursa Major started to inch closer and closer towards him - how it was able to, he didn't know. All he knew, however, was that he had to _run the hell away_ if he wanted to live.

Which, quite frankly, he did.

Thoughts on escape, on retaliation, on _anything_ that could help him at the moment rushed through his head, much like how he was running now, but slower.

They did say actions spoke louder then words, after all.

He could use one of the sharpest branches he could find, try and pierce through it slightly, and run back towards...his...house...

God dangit he was lost.

He let out a frustrated sigh, a branch, even still, wouldn't be able to stab through it's thick hide. Not to mention he wouldn't be able to get close - due to it's enhanced instincts...and his horrible fighting skills.

He couldn't even call them skills anymore, they were just that bad.

"Come on Jaune, think!" he muttered angrily to himself.

He very well knew he would reach a dead end eventually - it was inevitable. Either that, or he would somehow stumble his way into society, which he really doubted right now, considering his luck as of late. That didn't mean he didn't hope for the latter, oh no, he was hoping like there was no tomorrow.

Which, in all honesty, would probably be true if he didn't think of something, ASAP.

He looked around, _anything_ , he was willing to go with _anything_ that could at least pierce through the grimm's thick fur. But alas, that took a sharpened sword to do such a daunting of a task, which he unfortunately left at his house; grabbing his hair and pulling it in repressed anger, he accidentally tripping over the roots of a large tree, overlooking him and his surroundings, adding a fair bit of shade.

"God damm-!" he swore, before taking sight of the Ursa Major, naught but a few feet from his position, stalking up to him like he was his prey. And clearly, he most certainly was in this situation. His hands backed him away in fear, every limb in his body frozen, unmoving.

His legs wouldn't respon to his command, utterly useless in the face of his potential demise. His eyes glistened, gritting his teeth as he watched the grimm walking up to him in slow steps, like it was mocking him before he inevitable had to face his end.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing he could do at this point; he pathetically picked up a sharp branch, holding it in front of his face weakly, only to get it knocked aside by the Ursa Major's large paw, sending to the griund in two pieces. He shook, arms finally unwilling to move, looking straight into the red eyes of the grimm.

There was nothing else he could do, nothing else that he knew actually had a chance of working, nothing that would be able to save him from what would be his death.

Unless...

Of course!

Some people said that they unlocked their semblances during near death experiences! There was nothing left to do now, except hope, put his faith into this one little detail, this one little happening that people experienced. A dumb, insane, and illogical idea - but something that he needed at a time like this.

Either that, or he needed a weapon, which would be more preferable right about now.

The grimm raised it's paw, claws aiming to strike, a deadly sight that would soon be cleared out of his mind as it was ripped to shreds. Today, was the day Jaune Arc met his demise, a person aspiring to be someone he wasn't, lover of video games, and a caring brother, as well as a son.

"...Goodbye." he murmered, shielding his his with his arms in an instinctive attempt to lessen the blow - which honestly wouldn't happen, considering the Ursa Major would just keep on tearing him to pieces until it was sure he was dead.

The claw came down, in a swoosh of air, prepared to make contact with the blonde boy that was soon to die. It was a mere inches away from his arms, he could feel the artificial breeze it created as time seemed to slow down, his memories, _his memories_ , not anyone elses, his.

His arms stayed oustretched, hearing the sound of tearing flesh, thinking it had been _his_ flesh that had been torn. But...he didn't feel any pain.

He slowly unraveled his arms, looking at the glorious - but bloody sight in front of him. The Ursa Major, with a jagged rocked carved deep into it's stomach; practically leaped with joy right there, but refrained himself as he heard something whiz over his head.

More stones.

Not just one.

Or two.

Or even _three_ that matter.

No, it was about a dozen or so stones, all embedded within the grimm's flesh, tearing apart it's hide, causing it to fall back in agony, reduced to nothing more then a pile of smoking blood, which soon evaporated itself.

He looked up, and more stones floated above him, aiming where the grimm used to be - while they were in midair with no support whatsoever, that wasn't the least of his concerns whatsoever.

Was this...was this his semblance?

But rocks? He didn't think rocks described him as a person, or any philosophical meaning behind anything even remotely related to rocks anyhow.

Rocks were bold, he was not.

Rocks were sturdy, he was not.

Rock were strong, he was not.

So why then, had this became his semblance? He mulled over himself - which was a wierd thing to think about - looking over what made him...well... _him._ He only really found a select few, but none of the, really fit the 'floating rocks that shot out' persona.

But...then it hit him.

He liked video games...they were practically his _life_. His night and day, the Romeo to his Juliet, and any other references you could think of. So...what game involved a bunch if floating rocks that could shoot out at your opponent at your will? He tilted his head in thought, before his eyes widened.

It wasn't actually in the game itself, it was in an anime dub of the game, which he had watched anyways, considering it was one of his favorite games up to date.

It was from the world where creatures fought other creatures, where people trained to become the best they could be - like hunters, but _way_ different - it was where all childhood dreams came to life.

He had just used the move stone edge...and that move was from the game of Pokèmon.

 **Congratulations!**

 **Understanding the genral concept of your semblance has granted you 50 Exp!**

...

...

...

Wait wha-?

 **Welcome, to your new semblance, Jaune Arc!**

 **Welcome to the Pokèmon move tutor!**

* * *

 **AN:Yeah, short but sweet, gets the story rolling in about 2000 words or less.**

 **A general idea on how grimm evolve into different kinds of grimm - like from beowolfs to Alpha's, and Ursi to Ursa Major's. _Darkness_ is just a name for a grimm's...soul? It isn't exactly clear what it is yet, but it will be later on as the story progresses.**

 **The name of his semblance is cheesy at best, but it's my name for it, so I do what I want!**

 **Not much to say in this AN other then aforementioned above, except that this may or may not get updated, like Short Lived. So don't expect _that_ much, but I'll do my best. Again, this was an idea that wouldn't leave me, after trying hours upon hours to get the start of Imitatio done - I have the whole chapter planned out, I just can't execute it correctly - I came across this idea while thinking of cool powers Jaune could have.**

 **It started out as him having the power to control ice - reading the fic Frigus Armum and watching him turn ice into icicle spears around him - and it evolved from there. Eventually leading to stone edge, then getting me to this.**

 **So love it? Hate it? Leave a review! Or don't, your choice really.**

 **Cya!**

 **[IWEYC used teleport!]**


	2. Chapter 2

**I DON'T OWN RWBY!**

His finger hovered naught but a few inches away from the floating screen before him - his eyes widened to the point where they could be counted as miniature discs. He could feel himself frozen, like time had suddenly just...stopped, but that was impossible, he knew.

The birds still chirped, the trees still swayed, and the wildlife still frolicked to and fro.

With that in mind, it wasn't time that was frozen - it was himself. He was frozen, not in fear like he had been moments ago; but in shock.

All the information he had just received was hitting him like a freight train, he couldn't comprehend exactly what...this all was - a semblance, he at least knew that much, but other then that, that was the only thing he knew about the strange object.

It couldn't even be counted as an object, more like an...entity, of some sort. Like the screen on a computer, like the hologram from his scroll; only this, wasn't accompanied by the outer layer whatsoever.

Just a screen, hovering motionless over the grass by only a few feet, right in front of his line of sight. The initial shock hadn't even passed yet - the news about his semblance was just...too much for him to even handle.

It would be like saying Ash had finally won a league for once.

He finally got the willpower to do one simple movement; shake his head. Not as an action of denial, but an action to clear his thoughts, to shake his mind and rid it of any excess information he didn't need to be processing at the time. Like a robot that had only one function, but had accidentally gained more coding than necessary, effectively breaking it's programing altogether.

He forcefully pried his finger away from the screen, clenching and unclenching his hand, testing to see if the ability of movement had come back to him.

He stared at the offending object once more, glaring at it as though his eyes would dispel an illusion. Though he knew full well that this was real, seeing as when he pushed his finger towards the screen, he hit something solid.

"Welcome to the...Pokèmon move tutor?" he murmured aloud to himself, questioning the line of text the screen entailed.

Curiously, he pressed the right corner of the floating rectangle, looking for some sort of...close button, or anything really that would make the screen go away. He swiped his hand in the screen left and right, but it still gave no response.

Only when he swiped upwards, did the screen get flung into the sky, evaporating into a thin trail of smoke.

He internally panicked; had he just made his semblance go away or something!?

"Shoot! What do I do, what do I do, what do I…" he trailed off, shoulders drooping as he came to one simple realization.

There had to be a menu...or something.

"Now," he muttered, "how am I supposed to open the menu….!"

His eyes widened slightly as another screen took it's place only a few centimeters from where the last one was located.

 **Menu**

 **Stats**

 **Items**

 **Moves**

 **Options**

 **Tutorial (Lvl 2 and above)**

He duly noted that there actually was an options button - which in his mind, would serve no purpose whatsoever. You couldn't alter, or even do something as tiny as ripple the sounds that other people heard.

Though, if time manipulation was a thing, sound manipulation surely could be as well.

Though, as he looked over what the menu had to offer, his eyes trailed down to the last option, and that promptly got a rather loud response from the blonde haired boy.

"WHAT!?" he shouted to no one in particular, "What do you mean tutorial is only unlocked once I reach level 2!?"

He growled in frustration, before tapping on the stats option a bit more forcefully than he should have. It opened up with a subtle, but noticeable 'ding', and he was able to see his stats for the first time.

 **Jaune Arc [Beginner]**

 **Lvl: 1**

 **Move capacity:10**

 **Exp**

 **[|||||||||||||||| ]**

 **80/100**

That was...actually a bit less than he had originally expected - normal rpg games usually had stats like Dexterity or Strength. You would get stat points as you leveled up, and in turn, could level up the stats you chose. Your stats would get stronger as you leveled up even without the points though, but a game would be easier if you actually used the points.

However, this already wasn't looking like a normal game, so he couldn't argue; argue with who, he didn't know.

Though, he only remembered the...system - if he could call it that - grant him a total of 50 Exp. Which could only mean he gained Exp when he killed the grimm. That one grimm alone had given him 30 Exp points, which meant all he had to do was kill another and he would level up.

He grimaced at the though, he wasn't particularly comfortable with having to kill grimm just yet - that grimm had been his first kill...ever. Even with a semblance as powerful as this, surely it came with downsides; every semblance did, it was just a law of nature.

He clicked the 'back' button on the screen and pressed on the 'moves' button - which he guessed would show him the moves he had learned thus far.

 **Moves**

 **[Stone Edge]**

 **PP: 14/15**

 **{Hurls jagged and rough stones at your opponent, as levels grow higher, it can become both an offensive as well as a defensive move - once level twenty is reached, you can create sharp, and much larger stones up from the ground. Smash them and the same effect as regular stone edge applies}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **[Move]**

 **{Explanation}**

 **/ More unlocked at lvl 30 \\\**

Okay, so that explained...some of the restrictions his semblance entailed, if not all of them - at least, he hoped all of them. Moves came with PP, which means that he only had a limited amount of uses.

Could he recharge them overtime, or maybe some kind of item could be obtained like an ether?

He sighed, he still had many questions - questions that only the tutorial could answer for him. Which meant he had to look for, and kill, another grimm.

How could he do that if he didn't even know how to track one?

He let out a breath of relief as he finally found a pack of beowolves walking around an empty clearing. It had taken him about 20 minutes at most - just aimlessly trekking around the forest in hopes of stumbling upon the grimm.

He didn't think anyone would be wanting to stumble upon grimm anytime soon.

* * *

Nora sneezed.

"Renny, someone's talking about me." she whined.

The man sighed, "Nora, how can you be so sure?"

"Because I sneezed. And all those cliche authors use sneezing when someone talks about a certain character!" she exclaimed.

Ren raised an eyebrow, "You read?"

Nora waved it off, "That's besides the point! Now! Let's go look for an Ursa Major to ride!"

* * *

Jaune involuntarily shuddered; on second thought, maybe someone did want to stumble upon some grimm. Though, he didn't have the faintest idea why - an image of someone riding one of the grimm popped into his head, but he quickly shook it off.

No one would be that daring, right?

* * *

Nora sneezed again, but waved it off; she was having so much fun right now!

"Wheeee! Renny look! Doctor snugglebutts could make a great horse!" she whooped, riding on the Ursa's back like a rodeo rider.

"Nora get back here!"

* * *

Jaune shrugged off the thought, and watched as the beowolves continued their trek to...wherever they were going - most likely their den of sorts, or at least a regrouping spot.

Grimm may have been mindless, but they still had their natural instincts, as well as reactions. If you were to give a grimm some - he shuddered - human flesh, it would eat it. It didn't take thinking to do something like that, it took predatorial instincts.

In that regard, grimm each had a...somewhat different code of ethics.

Beowolves often hunted in pack - similarly to regular wolves, except much, much more dangerous. Beowolves wouldn't usually travel alone; there were some exceptions, as there were for everything, naturally.

Alpha beowolves could travel alone, if only for the fact that they had the skills to...well...not die. Though, sometimes there were stray beowolves left behind - both on accident or because it was disowned.

He could go on and on about just the things that beowolves alone did, but now wasn't the time nor the place.

Now, how did he activate his powers again?

"Menu." he muttered.

 **Menu**

 **Stats**

 **Items**

 **Moves**

 **Options**

 **Tutorial (Lvl 2 and above)**

He jabbed his finger at the 'moves' button, opening the huge list that only consisted of one move at the moment - a huge waste of time if you asked him.

"So do I just press the move or...what?" he asked himself.

He moved his finger down on the tab containing 'stone edge' and pressed it.

But nothing happened.

He grimaced, he didn't know how to activate his semblance; he didn't even know all of the bare minimums. He kept tapping over and over, but that proved to be moot as he was met with nothing but an uncooperative semblance.

He froze, peeking through the bushes as one of the beowolves stopped to sniff the air, in search of a helpless prey. He stayed crouched, frozen, in fear of getting spotted and potentially blowing his cover; what was worse, was the fact that he didn't even know how to use his semblance!

He groaned in frustration as the beowolf howled; a signal that, most likely, notified the other pack members of a threat.

And thus, the second chase of the day started - with Jaune being unlucky one on the recieving end.

He swore up a storm within his head, cursing his lack of knowledge regarding his semblance, and just semblances in general.

He thought it over in his head; what activated upon a command that was related to his semblance?

Unless…

He fought the urge to slap his palm against his forehead - of course, how could he have been so dumb!? He made a mental note to think over anything and everything that he had done and will do in the future beforehand. Lest he make dumb mistakes like these.

"Stone edge." he murmured.

The rocks that pierced through the Ursa now circled around his body, almost protectively. He knew they were still just rocks - they had no mind, much less a soul.

The pack came closer to Jaune in an attempt to overpower him with sheer numbers alone, something that would've worked regardless, one beowolf or a dozen.

"Please work." he muttered to himself.

He stretched his palm outwards, willing the stones to follow his command: and folliw they did, as the stones flew towards the destined targets. He could hear the rocks whistle as they dashed through the air at blinding speeds, sharp edges all heading towards a common enemy.

When the first made contact he witnessed, reluctantly, as the sharp rock tore through it's thick fur - surpisingly thin, compared to the grimm he had fought naught but a hours earlier. After that, he watched as each beowolf fell, one by one - dead even before they hit the ground.

The last one defeated, the stones crumbled into dust, he finally heaved out a large breath he didn't know he had held.

It had worked, he'd killed the grimm...all of them.

He looked over his handiwork - smoke from both grimm and rock were still evaporating up into the air.

Maybe...maybe he'd be able to make it into Beacon after all.

 **Leveled up!**

 **New Tm and Hm moves unlocked!**

 **Tutorial unlocked!**

 **Would you like to start the tutorial?**

 **[Yes/No]**

* * *

 **AN:I figured out something! Riding on a plane is great for motivational issues! It forces me to get on notes and type up a full chapter lf this story! So hooray for me? Probably...**

 **I know I said things would be cleared up this chapter, but sadly, that's reserved for next chapter. Though, some things were added in this chapter that should explain a few things.**

 **Thank you to everyone who bothered to read this story! Wether you favorited, followed, reviewed, or again, just read in general!**

 **Love it? Hate it? Leave a review! Or don't, your choice really.**

 **Cya!**

 **[IWEYC used teleport!]**


End file.
